(Science Fantasy) Aria just has a few days to save the whole universe from being swallowed up by Zarzak, the infinite love machine. (6,950 words; Time: 23m)
Rating: ★★★☆☆ Average
"Infinite Love Engine," by Joseph Allen Hill [bio] (edited by John Joseph Adams), appeared in Lightspeed Magazine issue 83, published on April 1, 2017.
Mini-Review (click to view--possible spoilers)
Pro: The story is incredibly rich with allusions, many of them hysterical. My favorite: “All the classical methods fail: Socratic, Hegelian, getting angry and saying a bunch of swears.”
Some of the images are more obvious than others. The braincube seems to represent people who overthink problems and end up only talking but never acting--and paralyze everyone else too. Possibly, Zarzak itself represents people who fall in love (even just with an idea, not a person) and let that completely take over their lives. Beeblax sounds so much like “be black” that it has to mean something, but I couldn’t figure it out.
Con: Reading it is exhausting, especially at the beginning. Also, the joke of Aria responding to lofty declarations with simple, earthy expressions gets old after about the third time.
Other Reviews: Search Web, Browse Review Sites (Issue 83)
Joseph Allen Hill Info: Interviews, Websites, ISFDB, FreeSFOnline
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Some of the images are more obvious than others. The braincube seems to represent people who overthink problems and end up only talking but never acting--and paralyze everyone else too. Possibly, Zarzak itself represents people who fall in love (even just with an idea, not a person) and let that completely take over their lives. Beeblax sounds so much like “be black” that it has to mean something, but I couldn’t figure it out.
Con: Reading it is exhausting, especially at the beginning. Also, the joke of Aria responding to lofty declarations with simple, earthy expressions gets old after about the third time.
Other Reviews: Search Web, Browse Review Sites (Issue 83)
Joseph Allen Hill Info: Interviews, Websites, ISFDB, FreeSFOnline
Follow RSR on Twitter, Facebook, RSS, or E-mail.
Hysterical!
ReplyDeleteI probably need to find a way to say "recommended for the humor alone."
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